Month: July 2017

It’s settling down and the sun is out. The Barnegat Light Buoy is fading and the trend will continue to ease.

I got some fun surf this morning before the lifeguards came out. While walking up the beach one drift I stopped and talked to an anglers soaking a line. He reported a little bit of weed (most was up on the beach), snappers stealing bait and two kingfish. He mentioned that 4oz was rolling with the low tide sweep.

Grey Colston stopped in this morning and shared he was into fish before the blow, “I hope it continues. The inlet was consistent with tog and fluke and the surf had kings.”

David Ho got a good size fluke today. He said, “Fishing was good. The water was chocolate milk but the fluke are on the chew. I got a new personal best, 28″ fluke! Alex (23.5″) and John (20″) both caught too.”

David Ho caught this 28″ fluke off the rocks today.

Rich Beverley also reported fluke on the rocks. Here’s a photo of a 19.5″ flattie he got bucktailing.

Rich got this keepers bucktailing the inlet.

Still some good blues around… “Not a bad way to end my six week vacation!” Mike Hovan reported. Here’s a bluefish he recently caught off the surf.

Still some bluefish cruising the surf.

And a couple bass! Dave Hershberger posted this photo of a resident schoolie. “Lagoon striper!”

Fishing is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.

If you didn’t get the memo yet the weather is sour! While not a total weekend rain/blow out everyone would have liked better weather for the completion of the 48th Annual Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational. All can agree it was a great move adding the fourth day this year. The leader board on the WMI site has the Melton Boyz aboard the Jersey Nuts at the top with a 62.5 pound tuna. Looks like there was three white marlin releases as well as 26 tuna, two wahoo and six dolphin boated.

Very fall like weather has shaped up with strong winds and a gale warning is currently in effect through tonight. The coastal storm will offer stormy conditions today with whipping nor’east winds and building surf. As of 11am the Barnegat Light Buoy (Station 44091) has ramped up and is at 8.5 feet. The swell and winds peak tonight. We expect solid surf on the Long Beach Island beaches Sunday which will linger and slowly ease into the work week. As Sunday progresses expect the winds to decrease. Then light winds on Monday and Tuesday; however 3-4’+ swell will be present. The sun is forecasted to be out Sunday, Monday and Tuesday with beautiful low humidity and comfortable summer temperatures. Since there will be swell in the water, these days should be great for fishing the bay. Once things settle down enough it’s time for ocean fluke fishing.

Jacob Bowles sent in this photo with a short report, “Two keepers on bait fishing 60’ of water in the ocean. I also fished the bay three days this week and got a ton of shorts. Had a five pounder boat side but lost him.”

Jacob got this pair drifting bait in 60′ of water.

EJ Davis sent in this photo of a sand tiger shark he released. “We stopped in and got geared up at Fisherman’s Headquarters. You guys hooked us up right with bait and tackle. We headed out of Holgate and set up off the beach some. Got this sand tiger shark on mackerel. It was about 7’ long. You guys are on point!”

EJ released this sand tiger shark off Holgate.

Here’s a report from Captain Louis Van Bergen of the Miss Barnegat Light… “We’ve seen improvement the last few weeks. More and more fluke, although many are throwbacks, are coming up on our hooks. We have also seen a good number of sea bass and a few porgies. Everyone is busy with those pesky bait stealing sea robins and skates. Squid and spearing combos are working, but Gulp has had its moments in the sun. Join the crew and enjoy a day on the water.”

Here’s an update from the Carolyn Ann III… “It isn’t the nicest day of the year but it has to rain sometimes. Thursday one angler limited out and others were catching. Yesterday the boat had an awesome morning trip with lots of limits of quality fish. The storm might have turned it on. There’s fish out there so hang in as the weather passes! We’ll be back on the grounds as soon as possible. Jump aboard and let’s go fishing!

Mutiny aboard a boat is one of the things a captain fears most. Well today I had to face my fears when there was a mutiny on board the Debbie M. It all started with a phone call around 9 AM from a man named Gregory asking if I was available for a trip today. Plans were set to meet him and his crew of four others at high noon. As the family existed their SUV to great me it appeared that this trip would be like most others I have with LBI vacationers. Boy was I wrong. After our greeting and learning everyone names, I sized the kids up with the correct PFDs and got ready to go fishing. They asked if they could bring their brand new fishing rods to use on the trip. Obliging them, they went back to the SUV to get the rods and it was at this point the mutiny came evident. Now with Spiderman, Disney, and Barbie rods and spin-cast reels in hand the mutiny began. Stowing away my St. Croix, the best rods on earth, and Okuma gear, I rigged their spin-cast outfits to try and deck some fluke. After getting the Barbie outfit baited with a minnow and as I started to tie a rig on the Spiderman outfit, the Barbie rod doubled over. Fish on! Without any time to tend to the Disney rod the first fluke of the day was landed. For the next two plus hours it was non-stop action. All on the fish caught during the trip were on their spin-cast outfit. Sometimes you do not need the best, high cost tackle the get it done. Especially when the goal is to introduce a kid to fishing. A bend in the rod and a fish on the other end is all it takes. It’s 10 PM did you take your kid fishing today?

The recent rain and New Moon tides have definitely hampered the bite as of our most recent couple of trips, but we are still picking at keepers. Some days it’s pretty decent quality, but you have to work for them and move around to find biting fish. The fish are starting to move and I will start running Ocean Fluke charters very soon. Reminder: We run 7 days a week until September.

Over the weekend, I had Tom Duralek of Manahawkin, his dad Tom Sr. of Toms River, and my father Mike Taylor on a morning Fluke trip. This was a belated Father’s Day trip for both Dad’s and we got right on the fish. We ended with 7 keeper Fluke, with the biggest being a 9 pounds which was caught on the S&S BigEye bucktail tipped with minnow. The sizes were: 29.5, 24, 22, 21, 19, 18, 18. We landed well over 75 Fluke and enjoyed a great day on the water with a ton of laughs.

Later in the week, I had return clients Russ Johnson, Alan Gordon and his son Andrew on a 4hr Bay/Inlet charter. We started working some of the same areas as our last trip, but the bite was definitely off possibly due to the recent rains and slight change in salinity or New moon tides. We had to move around a lot to find feeding fish. The guys worked very hard to boat 30 Fluke with 2 keepers at 19 and 21 inches.

Next, I had return clients Peter AuBuchon of PA with his daughter Maria. We had tough conditions for a majority of the trip having wind against tide drifts. The tide was really ripping which made it tough for proper presentation of the jigs. But we worked hard and Pete and Maria jigged the S&S BigEyes to put 3 keepers (21, 18.5, 18) in the box. The tide was really ripping which made it tough for proper presentation of the jigs. The father-daughter team did a great job in very challenging conditions.

I had new client Nick Grimshaw of Wayne, NJ and his father Alex of Fulton, NY on a 4hr Bay/Inlet charter. We worked a variety of areas, before finally finding a halfway decent bite of fish for 2 hours. We worked S&S BigEye bucktails over deeper bottoms to produce over 35 fish with 2 keepers at 18 inches each. The bite has definitely cooled off slightly of how it was last week, but it should regain with the lessening tidal current of the recent New Moon. Nice job and look forward to seeing the guys next year!

If interested in booking a charter, book through the website (www.reelreactioncharters.com) or call/text 609-290-7709. As always, we use the highest quality gear and everything is included: gear, tackle, fish-cleaning, and ICE! It’s “no worries” fishing. Just come aboard and FISH.

The back door cold front has a persistent NE wind blowing. Not enough for a huge swell, but enough to make the ocean a little sporty for those venturing out. This wind will reinforce the warm beach front ocean temps for sure. Snuck out around the inlet with my friend Dave Werner before sunrise and we were on fish right away. We landed mostly blues in the 2-5 pound range but managed a few linesiders in the mix. One of the bass was invited to dinner if you know what I mean. The fish were willing to swipe at poppers at times which is always a blast. So willing were they that Dave caught two at once a popper (picture below). A true double header. After that, we came inside and had some solid fluke action for the time we fished. Did not box any but most were what I like to call “quality” shorts. Fish over 17” but below the size limit of 18”. We both ended the morning with a Barnegat Bay Slam (striper, bluefish, and fluke).

On the nature side of things: Seems like there are more than usual sponge crabs. Sponge crab refers to female blue claw crabs that are carrying eggs visible on the abdomen (bottom) of the carapace (shell). After mating the prior year, a female blue crab that has matured eggs (about a million) swims towards the ocean to drop them. Drifting the bays and oceans currents the larval blue crabs disperses over what is hopefully the correct environment needed for their survival. As for the female, it is the end of her life. Blue cabs females only lay eggs once in their lifetime. Sad but true. The summer fishing could not be any better than it is right now, well maybe if weakfish were part of the equation. A great fluke bite, bluefish pretty easy to find, and a few stripers in the mix. I still have some times open for this week if you want to get in on the action give me a call.

Strong showing of summertime pan fish in the waters of LBI!

Fishing LBI is great! A recent wave of snapper blues arrived and tormenting the schools of spearing. Southern kingfish are and have been on the chew. We’ve also seen an uptick in weakfish and finally a couple blowfish. On top of that, fluke fishing reports are great!. Bluefish, tog, triggers and sheepshead are in the inlet too.

Local grom Grey Colston is stopping in daily load up on live boodworms and DynaBait freeze dried bloods. Grey reports lots of kings in the surf. “The past couple of days have been great on both live and freeze dried bloods! Some days we have fish on almost every cast. There’s lots of kingfish and snapper blues on the beach. Fish the low tide and walk out on the bar. You gotta reach out to them!” While Grey is fishing the Ship Bottom surf other kingfish and snapper surf reports have came in. Other areas mid-island as well as Beach Haven on the south end are producing. We can only assume they are up on the north end too. But no direct reports. Only talk about blues and fluke from the northern beaches.

Busy traffic is something we all learn to deal with on LBI during the summer time. Whether on the beach, on the water or on the street traffic is part of daily life. Most of the time traffic on the water makes a bite tough. However the bay and Inlet fluke fishing around LBI has been solid with numerous reports of 4-6 pound fluke as well as a couple 9’s 10’s and a 12!!! With the abundance of bait (specifically spearing, peanut bunker and small snappers) we remind those who switch over to strictly artificial to rethink their game. Big fluke love bait and especially large baits! Whole squid and large mackerel strips are two classic big fish bait as well as peanut bunker, snappers and live spot.

Kyle Brewer was recently on the water drifting and dreaming around the Inlet, Dike and main thoroughfares. He reported good fishing and mentioned, “We got a bunch of shorts and some keepers. Saw a guy land a monster!” Josh Rice sent in this photo seen (below). Josh caught the 12 pound doormat bucktailing Barnegat Bay. Land based anglers fishing the rocks are picking some good fish.

Here’s Josh Rice with a 12 pound Barnegat Bay doormat!

AJ and the crew at Apex Anglers recently released this dusky shark off the surf.

It’s Shark Week and there’s no better way to enjoy the time then shark fishing. Sharking the surf and the bay is lots of fun and the bite is on! Sand tigers and brown sharks are consistently making their presence known however other species are around. AJ at Apex Anglers recently released a dusky. Our local bunker man said small black tips are here and there some threshers still around. Speaking of sharks… the ultimate sportfishing shark species, the mako gave a local boat a surprise. As reported on our last fishing report post (July 22nd) the crew aboard the Jenny Lee got a monster mako. Here’s a must read article on the catch from the Fisherman Magazine www.thefisherman.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_ID=1800&ParentCat=19

– Bluewater Fishing News –

Captain Jeff Warford aboard the Reel Innovations stopped in for a case of premium select Baitmaster’s Ballyhoo. While here he reported the tuna fishing is good. We are mugging them on the troll and the chunk is heating up. Other good report came in from Research and Bluerunner Sportfishing. Here’s their spreads!

Recent crew aboard the Bluerunner. Nice haul!

Bill Tallman’s recent catch aboard the Research.

With the Beach Haven White Marlin Invitational this week lips are tight. Not many willing to share locations.

Captain Bernie Hyland aboard the Mad Ludwig sent in the report… Brittany Hyland landed her first bluefin tuna aboard the Mad Ludwig on Saturday. We were fishing at Lemkes Canyon. The 36″ 22.9 pound bluefin nailed a good old Green Machine trolled behind a bird rig way back at the end of the pattern.

– Fishing LBI Tournament News –

Wednesday is Day 1 of the 48th Annual the Beach Haven Marlin Tuna Invitational. Best of luck to all the boats fishing and a huge thanks to all of the boats that geared up with top quality bait and tackle at Fish Head.